Natural Springs Turned This Arkansas Mountainside Into America’s Most Intact Victorian Resort Town

Eureka Springs, Kansas

Before there were spas and wellness retreats, there was Eureka Springs. The town’s 60+ natural springs drew everyone from Civil War veterans to wealthy socialites seeking miracle cures in its warm waters.

Here’s the story of Arkansas’s Victorian resort town.

The Word Spreads About the Miraculous Springs

Judge Saunders arrived in 1879 suffering from erysipelas, a painful skin infection causing bright red inflammation. After bathing in the spring waters, his condition improved dramatically.

News of his recovery spread quickly through word of mouth and newspaper accounts. Health-seekers rushed to the remote Ozark location seeking similar cures, and the population ballooned to 10,000 by late 1879.

Arkansas officials declared Eureka Springs its fourth largest city in 1881 and gave it the prestigious “City of the First Class” designation.

Victorian Buildings Cling to Mountainsides

Builders constructed nearly 500 Victorian structures between 1880 and 1910 throughout the steep hillsides of Eureka Springs.

They adapted by creating a stair-step pattern of buildings, following old animal trails.

Most of them are still standing today, giving Eureka Springs the largest collection of Victorian buildings in the central United States.

Queen Anne, Italianate, and Gothic styles mix together throughout town, and sharp-roofed gingerbread homes perch alongside limestone commercial buildings.

Interestingly, they were preserved by the Great Depression. Residents chose to abandon homes rather than pay for demolition when tourism declined in the 1930s.

Four Springs Form the Heart of Eureka

Basin Spring flows beneath downtown, considered the original healing spring.

There’s also Grotto Spring which flows from a natural cave with “Esto Perpetua” (let it be eternal) carved above its entrance. Sweet Spring features a unique spiral staircase leading to its basin, where clear water collects in a stone bowl surrounded by lush landscaping.

The last is Harding Spring, photographed by its namesake Emmett Harding in the late 1800s. It became famous for supposedly curing blindness in an early visitor.

The Crescent Hotel

The Crescent Hotel was designed in 1884 by Isaac Taylor to attract wealthy health tourists, and it officially opened its doors in 1886 atop Crescent Mountain.

From 1908 to 1924, the building took on a new life as a girls’ school called Crescent College.

In the 1930s, the hotel fell into the hands of Norman Baker. He was a con artist who painted it a garish purple and used local radio station KTHS to lure in cancer patients with bogus treatments.

The Thorncrown Chapel

Architect E. Fay Jones created Thorncrown Chapel in 1980 as a woodland sanctuary.

Workers carried all building materials through the forest by hand, and no piece of wood exceeded what two men could carry together.

His design used 425 windows containing over 6,000 square feet of glass, making the surrounding forest part of the worship space.

A Seven-Story Jesus Watches Over Town

Christ of the Ozarks rises 67 feet above Magnetic Mountain, visible from throughout Eureka Springs. Workers completed the monument in 1966 entirely by hand.

Tourists rank it America’s fourth most-visited statue behind the Lincoln Memorial, Statue of Liberty, and Mount Rushmore. Thousands make pilgrimages to its base each year.

The Great Passion Play Tradition

Another Eureka Springs tradition is the the Great Passion play, performed since 1968 on the same grounds as the Christ statue.

A cast of 150 actors in biblical costumes brings ancient Jerusalem to life, and live animals add authenticity to the outdoor drama.

Performances run May through October each year.

Artists Outnumber Other Professions in Town

More than 350 working artists live among Eureka Springs’ 2,400 residents. This concentration earned the town recognition as one of USA Today’s top five small-town art destinations.

Galleries line downtown streets displaying paintings, sculptures, and handcrafted items, while local artists work in studios scattered throughout historic neighborhoods.

Visiting Eureka Springs, Arkansas

Eureka Springs is in Northwest Arkansas Ozark Mountains, about 45 miles from Fayetteville Regional Airport.

Historic downtown stores operate 9am-5pm daily. The Eureka Springs Historical Museum at 95 S. Main Street opens Monday through Saturday, admission $7 for adults.

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